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Showcase Showdown
The Showcase Showdown is a special game where three contestants who have won their way up on stage compete for the right play in the Price Is Right Showcase. Setup The game is played on a huge wheel dubbed "the Big Wheel", and is filled with various cent values in increments of fives from 5¢ all the way up to $1.00; and in this order (5¢, $1.00, 15¢, 80¢, 35¢, 60¢, 20¢, 40¢, 75¢, 55¢, 95¢, 50¢, 85¢, 30¢, 65¢, 10¢, 45¢, 70¢, 25¢, 90¢). Gameplay The contestants are lined up by their winnings (lowest to highest). The object of the game is to come as close to $1.00 as you can without going over. Anything over $1.00 loses the game. Each player will take up to two spins of the wheel; the wheel must go all the way around at least one time or the contestant in control would get booed and must do it again. After the first spin, the spinner can choose to either stay with what he/she landed on or spin again; on the second spin, whatever the contestant hits will be added to the first score, and (as previously mentioned) if he/she went over $1.00, that contestant is eliminated from the game; otherwise, that player stands under the scoreboard and waits it out. When all three contestants have taken their spins, the contestant closest to $1.00 wins the game and goes into the Showcase round. In the event that the first two contestants go over, the last contestant automatically advances to the Showcase, but gets only one spin to see if they can get $1.00. If the game ends in a tie, the tied contestants play a Spin-Off game where each player gets only one spin, and the highest number wins. If any of the tied contestants gets $1.00 in their Spin-Off spin, they still get a $1,000 cash bonus and a bonus spin (see below). While the wheel can be both spun upwards and downwards, only downward spins count. Bonuses *Throughout the series, there was a bonus for getting $1.00 exactly (either by hitting the dollar space on the first spin or by making a dollar in two spins). *When the wheel first premiered, the prize for getting $1.00 was a cash bonus of $1,000. Since 1978, hitting $1.00 not only won the $1,000 cash bonus, but also a bonus spin. Before starting a bonus spin, the wheel gets set to 5 cents. In the Bonus Spin should the wheel land on a green bonus space (either 5¢ or 15¢), the contestant won an additional $5,000 for a total of $6,000; but if he/she hit the red bonus space ($1.00) in the bonus spin, the winning contestant won an additional $10,000 for a total of $11,000. *On October 6, 1998, two contestants won $11,000 in the same Showcase Showdown. The exact same thing happened again on February 11, 2009 when two contestants landed on the Green sections of the Wheel on an episode with Drew Carey. *In Drew's second season as host, the cash bonuses were raised to $10,000 for a green bonus space (for a total of $11,000) and $25,000 for the red bonus space (for a total of $26,000). *In the bonus spin, the contestant must get the wheel all the way around, or the spin is void and they do not get another spin. If a contestant hits $1.00 in their Spin-Off spin, they still get their $1,000 cash bonus and bonus spin. If the tie happens to be between multiple players who scored $1.00, each player's bonus spin also counts as their spin-off. This is disadvantageous for the contestants, since two of the three prize-awarding spaces (5¢ and 15¢) also happen to be two of the three worst tie-breaking spaces. Contestants who participate in bonus spin-offs and who don't get the wheel all the way around are allowed to spin again, but without the addition of any more bonus money. If the spin-off contestants tie in terms of the prize-awarding spaces, another spin-off is played but without any bonus money at stake. *For Big Money Week in Season 45, the 45 cent space on the wheel is colored green, and offers a $45,000 bonus should the bonus spin land there. Trivia *The font style used for the numbers on the big wheel is Pricedown. *Initially the wheel didn't have to go all the way around for a spin to count. However, after a couple early playings with contestants doing weak spins to try to get the $1.00 (in particular the infamous Alberto), the rule was changed to requiring the wheel to go all the way around at least one time. Shortly after this rule was implemented, Bob would chide contestants who didn't get the wheel all the way around, leading to boos from the audience. Drew has discontinued this concept, only asking the contestant to spin again and reminding them to make sure it goes all the way around, though the audience still sometimes boos, and Drew does acknowledge that the audience doesn't like insufficient spins. *Sometimes, because of the size of the wheel, elderly and disabled contestants have difficulty getting the wheel the whole way around, and may request a substitute spinner, frequently the host. When Bob acted as a substitute spinner, he usually used only one arm to spin the wheel, as he held his microphone with the other, but sometimes he didn't get the wheel the whole way around either, and was humiliated. Drew Carey doesn't substitute spin as much as he simply helps by putting his arm on the wheel, to give it further momentum, when the contestant is unable to give a sufficient spin alone. *Early on, contestants spun the wheel with one hand, with their body facing the audience. When the rule of the wheel needing to go all the way around was implemented, contestants used both hands and faced the wheel to get more momentum in their spins. *It is an unwritten rule that the wheel must be spun in a downward direction, although several contestants have tried to spin it in an upward direction. The most famous example was from November 30, 1992, when a contestant named Cherish, stepped up and spun the wheel the wrong way. Bob immediately stopped the wheel in mid-spin, chided her for it, and told her to spin it the right way. She did so, and ended up getting a dollar on her spin, winning $1,000. Bob joked that all contestants in the future would want to spin backwards, after that. *On October 17, 2016, history was made when all 3 contestants (Manfred, Cathryn, and Jessica) spun a dollar, all winning $1,000 from that. On the 3-way tiebreaker spin-off, Manfred, with an 80 cent spin, moved on to the final Showcase. Behind the Scenes *When it was time to bring out the big wheel, a wall was brought down to center stage so the audience doesn't see what's happening back there. *First, the carpet gets rolled out. After that, the big wheel is brought out and sits in front of the carpet. A small vacuum comes out to collect dust that might have gone on the carpet after it was rolled out. *When the big wheel is brought out and the arrow's pointer points to anything but $1.00, it gets set to $1.00 before lifting the wall up to start the Showcase Showdown. Pictures BIGWHEEL1.PNG|The original Showcase Showdown wheel from 1975. BIGWHEEL2.PNG|The plain-looking Big Wheel from 1976. Notice the lack of green spaces. BIGWHEEL3.PNG|From 1979, with green spaces added. Notice the Pricedown dollar signs. 1.00.jpg|What any Price is Right contestant wants to hit. Notice the decimal point, which returned for the April Fool's Day 2016 episode. BIGWHEEL4.PNG|From 1989. This design lasted for a good amount of time on the show. The dollar signs here were the same ones used in Super Ball!!. BIGWHEEL5.PNG|The late 80s design lasted for a short time into the Drew Carey years as well. kjtpirbw.PNG|2nd Showcase Showdown from 4/10/2008. BIGWHEEL6.PNG|This is the infamous "Purple Wheel" from 2008. The borders are green instead of black. BIGWHEEL7.png|This is what the wheel looks like these days. vlcsnap-2015-06-30-00h47m08s356.png|How close can you get. On the first $1,000,000 Spectacular, this occurred on the nickel space, and would happen again on another show. Custom Designed Looks TPIR1975Wheel.png|Original Big Wheel Pattern from 1975. 1975_big_wheel_pattern_by_tpirman1982-d4pejx2.png|The Big Wheel pattern 1975-1978. Current_big_wheel_pattern_by_tpirman1982-d4pekaq.png|The Big Wheel pattern since 1978. Tpir_purple_wheel_by_tpirman1982-d4p7b90.png|The infamous purple Big Wheel pattern from 2008. bigwheel.gif|The Big Wheel introduced since Season 37. Winning Graphics Bob Barker's Tenure 1000.gif 5000.gif 10000.gif jalena5k (11-19-1992).jpg|This might be one the earliest appearances of the 'star font' used in the Showcase Showdown up until Bob's last season. Here it's seen jazzed up quite a bit more than what would become the normal. This happened November 19, 1992. threewaydollartie (01-21-1993).jpg|We've had 3 way ties over the years. But this is nothing compared to the fact that these 3 contestants each got $1,000 apiece from January 21, 1993. It happened later under Drew Carey's tenure 23 years later. Drew Carey's Tenure Drew_Early_1k.png Drew_Early_5k.png Drew_Early_10k.png Drew_1k.png Drew_5k.png Drew_10k.png Drew_25k.png Drew_Current_1k.png Drew_Current_10k.png Drew_Current_25k.png $1,000 Winner-1.JPG $1,000 Winner-2.JPG $1,000 Winner-3.JPG $1,000 Winner-4.JPG $1,000 Winner-6.JPG Foreign versions Many countries, even those in a 30-minute format, use the same format for the Showcase Showdown, though with slight differences: *In the first UK version with Leslie Crowther, early episodes had the big wheel for the Showcase Showdown, with contestants winning £500 if they got 100 in one or two spins. For the bonus spin, spinning a blue section (5/15) won £250 extra while getting 100 again won £1,000. The IBA was not impressed with this format due to it being to reliant on luck, so when the second series came around, the game became "Supermarket", where contestants had 15 seconds to pick up to four items that totaled under £20. Whichever player was closest, high or low, would advance to the showcase, with two played each half. Finally, after that, a new version debuted in 1987 where contestants were being asked questions about products, with the contestants typing in a number for a price, similar to Greed's qualifying questions. The two players closest to the price moved on. *On the Sky One version with Bob Warman, spinning 100 in one or two spins only got you the extra spin. If you hit 100 on the bonus spin, you won a larger prize, oftentimes a car. *Subsequent British versions, beginning with the Bruce Forsyth run, awarded £1,000 with no extra spin, though Joe Pasquale's version did allow bonus spins, with a car for a prize if you got 100 again. *In Australia, only two people played the Showcase Showdown, but otherwise, it remained the same. In Ian Turpie's eras, the prize was a gift valued at about A$1,000, while Larry Emdur's runs just had A$1,000 cash if you hit 100 in one or two spins, with no bonus spin attached. *In the first Mexican version, the amounts were the same as the US version from 1978 to 2008, but in pesos, sometimes with 1 Mexican peso awarding a car in the bonus spin. During the 2010 version, the 5 awarded M$5,000, but 15 awarded M$15,000, with the peso awarding a car. Much like in America, on the bonus spin, the wheel is set to 5 before the contestant takes the spin. *When Germany first began, the prize was DM1,000 (approx. €510) for getting 100 in one spin, but later, it became either a car or motorcycle for getting said number. The format's rules are similar to what the US Gameshow Marathon would later use in 2006, however, unlike that, only one spin was permitted to each contestant, so going over 100 wasn't possible. Of note is that if two people won their pricing game, and one lost, no Showcase Showdown was played-- the two that won their games automatically went to the showcase. *In the Netherlands, during Carlo Boszhard's run, the prize was €1,000 for scoring 100 in one or two spins, with a bonus of €10,000 if you got 100 again in the bonus spin. Some versions use the same format as what was used from 1975 to 1978 in America, with the only difference being in prizes: *Italy - 1,000,000 ITL (approx. €520) *Spain - 100,000 ESP (approx. €600), later €1,000. To win the bonus, you had to get 100 in one spin only. (Carlos Lozano era) *Portugal - €100 (Fernando Mendes eras) *Vietnam - 1,000,000 VND for 100 points, but each 5 points you get 5,000 VND (no bonus spins) *France - No bonus until 1995. Beginning with that year, awarded a prize of 1,000 FR (approx. €152) if you got 100, with the prize going up by whatever number a player spun on the wheel. *Finland - FM1,000 (approx. €170) *Canada - Initially, no bonus, later C$1,000 if you got 100 in one or two spins YouTube Videos Bob Barker's Tenure First Ever Showcase Showdown The Audience Beeps Audience Beepers (1) Audience Beepers (2) Backwards Spinners Backwards Spin and a $1.00 from Season 20 or 21 in 1992 Backwards Spin from Season 28 in 2000 Backwards Spin from Season 29 in 2001 Backwards Spin from Season 30 in 2002 Dollar Spinners Backwards Spin and a $1.00 2 $11,000 winners in the same Showcase Showdown $11,000 winner from season 34 Another $11,000 winner from season 34 $11,000 won from season 35 $11,000 again from season 35 $11,000 yet again from season 35 Drew Carey's Tenure First $26,000 winner From the Showcase Showdown More Triple Spin-offs Two $11,000 Winners $37,000 Showcase Showdown (A $26,000 Winner and an $11,000 Winner) Link You can play The Big Wheel Flash Game by clicking here or here. Category:Games